Come back
by merissala
Summary: Something has happened and Echizen Ryoma no longer wants to play tennis.
1. Chapter 1

"_I hate tennis!"_

Tezuka sat in the senior classroom pondering about what Ryoma announced during their practice yesterday afternoon. Oishi and Kikumaru were sitting behind him also wondered by he suddenly decided to quit. Fuji had already left home, right after practice ended, saying he had something to do. Why would he do something like that?

Flashback-

"_I'm quitting."_

_Everyone in the tennis club turned their heads from what they were doing. Echizen Ryoma had just declared he was going to resign from the club, also meaning he wouldn't be able to participate in the Nationals. He was holding a sports bag with his tennis rackets and his regular uniform. Eiji and Oishi stopped their game. Inui looked up from his notebook. Momoshiro and Kaidoh stopped there little quarrel and Tezuka turned his head and looked down from where he was standing, his voice was still as monotone as it has always been. _

"_Why is that?" Tezuka replied flatly, but you could see the change of expression in his eyes. _

"_I'm quitting because I'm quitting, I'll be taking my leave now." Ryoma turned around and headed towards the exit of the tennis court area. Before he could Tezuka grabbed Echizen's wrist and asked, "That's not a reasonable answer, tell me-" _

_Ryoma cut him off and yelled out, "Because I Hate Tennis!" He released Tezuka's grasp on him, picked up his bag and went off._

End of Flashback

Tezuka sighed. Oishi could hear the distress in that sigh. It was one Tezuka hardily ever let out, especially at school. It was the type when one is confused and doesn't know what to do. Eiji was staring out the window, spaced out. Oishi stood up, "What are we going to do bunchou?"

He paused, then said, "We're just going to have to replace him with someone else. Other than that… there's nothing much we could do, we'll see how it goes tomorrow."

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Ryoma laid in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His eyes showed tiredness and wanted to sleep, but couldn't. Too much was on his mind. He couldn't believe he yelled at his ex-captain like that, suddenly leashing his anger upon him. Karupin brushed up against him, but Ryoma didn't notice him. There was a knock on his door.

"Ryoma?"

It was his mother.

"Are you awake?"

Ryoma didn't fell like answering. He pulled his blanket up and pretended to sleep. Rinko (mother) knocked the door and opened the door just a little bit, enough for her to see through into the room. She saw a sleeping Ryoma and Karupin purring. Rinko observed Ryoma's sleeping face. It had a sort of anguished feeling on it. "He's taking it pretty hard," she whispered to herself, "I hope he feels better tomorrow."

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A knock came from outside of Ryoma's door.

"Ryoma, wake up, it's time for school," his mother called out.

"Argh…. I don't want to go…" Ryoma muttered.

Rinko tried her best to cheer him up. "What? Ryoma not wanting to go to school?" Dear heavens! Where has my Ryoma gone!" She went all dramatic, pretending to be fainting. "Plus, don't you have tennis practice today. Just because you don't want to go to school, doesn't mean you can just ditch."

"I'm not ditching, I'm at home. I don't have morning practice today."

"Why not? I thought you had practice everyday, you know Ryoma-"

"I quit." The last part, Ryoma said very softly. His mother suddenly became very disquieting. Had she heard him wrong? Did he really say…

"Ryoma? Did you say that you… _quit_?"

"Hn."

Rinko eyes widened, first Nanjiroh, now this? As far as she knew, Echizen Ryoma absolutely loved tennis, he had picked up his first racket at an age of 4. Since then, he has practiced and gotten better and better each day. What has the world come down to? She whispered out an 'ok' and left the room. Her son can skip one day at school. She tried her best to go bring her spirits up, but instead, she started feeling dizzy, she got to the top of the stairs but fell down, and the world went back. All that was heard was loud 'thump.'

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"Hmm.. I wonder where Echizen is today? It's almost time for school to start," Katchiro thought aloud.

"I don't know…" Horio replied to his friend, "He probably overslept or something."

"Horio!" Katsuo yelled out, "That's mean!'

From a short distance away, Momoshiro had been listening to the trio's conversation. We had been worried about Echizen ever since he had quit the club. Why would he do such a thing? Ryoma absolutely loved tennis! Why would he quit? Just like that? Musing over his thoughts, he walked towards his classroom, still concerned with the little prodigy. He got into his classroom and sat down.

Momo was so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't see that the teacher had already walked in and started the lesson.

"So Momoshiro, what's the answer to this question?"

No answer.

"Momoshiro Takeshi!"

Momo, in his own mind, thought he had heard someone calling out his name but ignored it, until a heavy object dropped on his head.

"Hey! That hurt…" He shouted but then noticed it was sensei saying his name. "Oh! Ah! Sensei! W-what are you doing here?"

The teacher fumed. "Get out, Momoshiro!"

Over at the senior class, Kikumaru Eiji wasn't doing quite so well either. The teacher had called on him three times. And the three times he didn't respond. Sensei gave him three warnings but on the forth time he did it again. He got pulled out of class to sit in the halls.

"Aw… man, why didn't I pay attention, Nya?" Eiji said to himself. He yawned, "what am I supposed to do out here anyways?" He put his head down and rested his eyes.

The classroom door one over from his slid opened and out came Oishi. He closed the door and sat right next to Eiji.

"Huh?" Eiji looked up. "Oishi! What are you doing here? You didn't get in trouble did you?"

"Yeah I did, I didn't notice sensei was calling on me, so I had to come out here," Oishi said, blushing at what he had done, "I've never done this before, I guess I'm a little out of it today…"

"Hm… say Oishi do you know what happened to Ochibi? Like why he quit?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, I suggest you should go ask him." He chuckled a little. He wanted to know just as much as Eiji did.

"Yeah, I should, I'll go over to the freshman's class during lunch."

"I'll go with you.

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Oishi and Tezuka are in the same class diferent than Kikumaru and Fuji (they are in the same class) and Inui and Kawamura (they are also in the same class)


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello I'm back. With a chapter! OMG.  
I don't own Prince of tennis.  
Warnings: angst crap? i dunno. Depends on ur way of thinking. THIS IS AN AU FIC, sorta, a lot of this information isn't true, if you ask, (if you don't know) i'll tell you if it is or if it isn't.**

**And remember, a dictionary is a writer's best friend. Grammar mistakes are bad, expecially if there is something called ABC Check. (I'm being a hypocrite.)**

Okaa-san means mother   
Kaa-san also means mother, in an shortened way.. i think. Correct me if I am wrong.

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Secrets.

It's the worst idea, scenerio, concept, whatever it is, that has come to man kind, before global warming and the things that are about to destroy the world physically, that is.

There are things in the world, secrets to be specific, that people have. That they don't want anyone to know or see. Maybe it's jealousy, unrequited love, a long lost sibling, anything. Something they have been hiding because they don't want anybody else to know. Or possibly because they don't want to bother anyone, or hurt them. Or it could be that they just want it to be left unrevealed.

At times they are bad, but it's what makes the world go round. Without it, life would be pointless. And life is sometimes easier that way, almost free from worries or problems. No one needs to know your struggles, no one needs to know the things they deem unnecessary.

And to those who thought about why Echizen had quit the club, thinking, did he get some kind of disease? Does he have to leave to somewhere? Did someone force him to? Those are all could-be explanations for his departure of the club. It's nothing special really. Well, not really. No drastic event, no drama, no spacious thing. They are unmistakenably mistaken. To put it simply, Echizen quit because he wanted to. He simply hated tennis. There is simply no more to it then that. But that's to put simply. Is it really that simple? Is life really that simple? Hardly. It was despicable really; his father loved the sport, his father's father, and the father before him.

Why did he leave, why did he quit? Questions are left unanswerable, but yet, people still yearn for the solution. It's because of curiosity, the other "worst idea, (scenerio, etc)" ever created. Ever heard of "Curiosity killed the cat?" For some, it is quite literal, but not in this case. Curiosity is becoming a world wide disease, a sickness not many can escape from. It spreads like wild fire, a fire incapable of being put out. Ever had a rumor made about yourself that is not true? One person says something, another says something else, some over hear the wrong thing, people ask, people make up things, sooner or later, it might be from, "I like this person," to "WHO got pregnant?"

His life before was but a dream, now it's reality. Life is reality, Reality is cruel, life is cruel. That is why no one knows why he quit. He doesn't want to feel the cruel reality life has given him, so he has told no one of his secret.

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Being in the library was the best place Echizen could ask for. It's always silent, with some hushed whispers, or at least, supposedly to be. There were many books to choose from, not like he desired to read any, and a lovely, comfy couch he could get used to sleeping in. All was great except for the fact that he wasn't in the library. He was at the institution for providing medical and surgical treatment and nursing care for sick or injured people, AKA the oh so great hospital, stupid hospital.

Oh, how he despised the place, he'd only been there a few times, not many, but it seems like he's going to be coming in more and more. He hated it when he remembered how Tezuka-buchou...er, Tezuka-sempai used to go here, how Ryuzaki-sensei had to be here, when his cat nearly gave him a heart attack not breathing and he called the hospital instead of the vet. Utterly, completely loathe. It always gave him a sense of uncertainty in the air.

Sitting in the cramped blue seat, he shifted around to be in a better position to rest, seeing there was nothing else to do. Looking to the bed, his mother lie on it unconscious. How did she end up there? Well, here's a little flashback to let you know.

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_"Okaa-san?! Where's my homework?!"_

_Echizen was rummaging through his stuff frustratedly (In a frustrated rush) , trying to find everything he needed for school. And his mom not answering was not the most obliging thing. His morning wasn't the greatest either. When he woke up, a headache struck his head. He didn't feel so splendid. Once his headache gone, finding his homework was like finding a needle in a haystack underneath all the crap he had in his room. Usually he wasn't a disorganized individual, but he hadn't been able to clean up his bedroom these past scant days. Many...events look place._

_"Ka-san!" He said, irritated. Still no reply. He slammed the door open of the room and rushed to the stair top to yell out 'mom' once more but then stopped. Down at the start of the stairway was where his mom was. She looked like a crippled lady (because she was), her leg bent to the side. Was it supposed to do that?_

_"Mom!" he yelled out for the umpteenth time, but it wasn't done out of frustration._

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He called the 119 (emergency number), the most sensible thing to do in a situation like that. In a matter of moments, Echizen heard the loud sirens of the ambulance yelled out and watched as they picked her up. Echizen coming along with and explaining what he had thought happened. She was right next to the stairs, she probably fell.

And that's how his mom landed in the hospital. He watched insipidly at his mother. The doctors told him that she had fractured her leg and most likely fainted over too much stress. Must have been quite a fall. He glanced at the clock. It was almost nearing 10AM. He had been in the hospital for the past hour and a half and class had already begun. He reached in his pocket to get something out, but then quickly realized it wasn't there anymore.

A tennis ball.

Right, everything was thrown all into the large, empty, never used basement in their house. It was unnatural. If felt unnatural. What happened before didn't really have anything to do with his tennis, but suddenly he felt disgusted at the sight of it. He didn't get it. Maybe because tennis reminded him of too much he didn't want to. It was too bothersome; he didn't like to think too much, probably why he quit.

There were sounds of blankets rumpling. Ryoma shook his thoughts away, and before his head started hurting. Now THIS is why he hated thinking, always gave him a big migraine. (Sound like someone we all know?) He looked to the bed, his mother smiling at him, "Ryoma? What are we doing in the hospital?"

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"HOI? Ochibi isn't here!?" Eiji seriously looked dumbstruck to the freshman he was talking to. Oishi was behind him.

"No sempai, he's absent today."

"Where could he be? Maybe he's sick? What if he's sick? NO! Ochibi, why aren't you here?" Eiji whined as his hands were on Oishi's collar shaking him back and forth. Oishi is just about to choke up his lunch he just had. Yuck.

Eiji abruptly stopped, "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Momo-chan today either."

"You saw him during practice."

"Nya! Besides that!" Eiji sat down in the middle of the hallway, almost tripping some passer-by-ers, catching a few stares from people as they wondered by and contemplated very thoughtfully, if he was actually able to. Disorientated in his own "Eiji world," Oishi replies to him anyway, being the good boyfri- ahem, I mean FRIEND he is. Yes, friend, I did not say what you thought I said. You did not hear aaaaaannnyyything...

"Maybe he's not taking it very well, but it's not like Echizen is leaving us..."

"What? Ochibi is leaving us!!?? Oh NO!" Oishi nearly fell, sighing at his friend's gullibility.

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I haven't updated for awhile huh? Like... hmm quite a few months perhaps? Hehe, I'm not very motivated with this story, I have no idea where it will go, please give me any suggestions you would like to happen. I'll always take it to consideration. Love yous. :D And seriously, a dictionary (er..or a thesarus) is a writer's best friend. Thank you dictionary!

one for thing, before this A/N becomes longer than my story, for those who review and are really nice when giving reviews, I know **_SOME_** people tend to avoid saying any negative stuff about stories, because you are just too nice, please whatever you write is fine, the goods the bads, **ANYTHING** that can make my story better. thanks and bye

Oh, I found this in an dictionary, has nothing to do with the story but read anyways.

THE RIGHT WORD-

Some people will believe anything. Those who are truly gullible are the easiest to deceive, which is why they so often make fools of themselves. Those who are merely credulous might be a little too quick to believe something, but they usually aren't stupid enough to act on it. Trusting suggests the same willingness to believe, but it isn't necessarily a bad way to be (a person so trusting he completely disarmed his enemies). No one likes to be called naïve because it implies a lack of street smarts, but when applied to things other than people, it can describe a simplicity and absence of artificiality that is quite charming. Most people would rather be thought of as ingenuous, meaning straightforward and sincere (an ingenuous confession of the truth), because it implies the simplicity of a child without the negative overtones. Callow, however, comes down a little more heavily on the side of immaturity and almost always goes hand-in-hand with youth. Whether young or old, someone who is unsophisticated suffers because of lack of experience. (i do not own these sentences.)


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